Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.

Mission Accomplished

As I walked towards the banner for the Thoroughbred and Half-thoroughbred Show at Donida Farms, I saw Emily Bullard-Clough and her husband John walking towards me with Onyx.

Emily didn’t look happy. It wasn’t about the results of the War Horse class (an in-hand class for horses who have a lot of races under their belt), it was because Onyx just didn’t seem herself.

To me, Onyx looked fabulous, groomed to the nines, but when it’s your horse, you know when they are off their game, even when the signs are subtle.

Emily felt it, and she was concerned about what lay ahead. There were two dressage tests, a couple of flat classes and some jumping rounds ahead. Emily decided that the Intro B test, which was only walk-trot, might actually be a good thing to help get things moving and release the gas that she could feel in Onyx’s flank, but the jumping classes were definitely out.

Emily kept Onyx moving until her dressage test. It is hard to put a smile on your face when you are worrying about your horse. Still, Emily took some time to help another competitor remember the test on her way to the arena. When her turn came, Onyx looked steady, responsive and supple.

She has a lovely well-developed swinging trot and her halt at the end was perfection.

She didn’t look tense or unhappy. Still, Emily didn’t feel that Onyx was one hundred percent, and even I could see she didn’t have her usual verve.

“I don’t know what was up with that last transition.” Emily exhaled and put the performance in perspective. “It really doesn’t matter. She was brilliant last night. That alone was worth coming down here.”

It’s hard not to revisit all your decisions when things don’t go perfectly. We did the usual rehash – Onyx ate and drank the normal overnight amounts, and she doesn’t usually respond to new environments this way, so the only thing that Emily could think of was a new supplement she had added. Maybe that had set off a mild gastric disturbance.

Was it time to call it quits for the day? Emily mulled. Sometimes you need a fresh mind to talk things through with. Happily, Amanda, Emily’s jumping coach, was on hand. Emily decided not to rush into any decisions but to keep a close eye on Onyx.

Emily wasn’t the only one worried about her horse. I met Katie Peery, one of the Hundred Day Challenge competitors, who was still trying to regain ground after a near-death experience on I-5.

Hidden Fox Farm is in Ridgefield, closer to Portland than Seattle. But with a barn to run, Katie decided to trailer up on the morning of the show. So they were heading north on I-5 when things went sideways in front of them. Literally.

A car was spinning out, while a gravel truck was yawing across the road in an attempt to avoid it.

In moments like this, a truck and trailer are not your reliable workmates – they are several tons of steel hurtling you and your horse towards death.

Sitting in the sunshine at Donida Farm, Katie was matter-of-fact about the outcome. They stopped just short of disaster, and it could have been so much worse. Her working student, Mikaela Kuiper, who helped with Sauci’s training and came along to support Katie, was a little wide-eyed still, though she laughed it off.

But poor Hot N Sauci, the 5 year old mare that Katie had prepped for the show by bathing and braiding, now had a zigzag rub down her face, and a wound on her neck.

Worse than that, Sauci was completely frazzled. She was shaking like a leaf after unloading, and walking her around the grounds to try to calm her was having more of a negative effect.

Even by eleven o’clock, with her wounds checked and found to be superficial Katie was still concerned about her state of mind.

“We’ll just do what we can do, and maybe scrap the jumping.”

But jumping was Hot n-Sauci’s superpower. I tried not to look sad. Katie also.

“Did you see the video of her going over that oxer?”

I started to enthuse, but Jack and Theresa Hodge came by to ask where Sauci was. They were her breeders, and owners. For now, anyway. Sauci had an offer, pending a vet check, and would be shipping across the country to her new home soon.

The concept of the 100 Day Challenge is to showcase the horses and their talents, and to educate others about how to successfully start the retraining an ex-racehorse. Not only do the owners of the horses get a big pat on the back for making them available for training but their horses are more saleable at the end of the challenge. The trainers get a percentage of the sale price, and if they win the challenge as well, there is a cash prize, but the primary benefit is the exposure not just of their work but of their belief in the potential of the horses.

Katie Peery didn’t need the exposure, because she already has a strong business model training horses coming off the Portland track and marketing them to eventers, but she is always looking for ways to build awareness of what an asset an OTTB can be. Eventing is a natural career path for ex-racehorses with some jumping ability, and it builds on the conditioning and basic training they have already thanks to their track career.

When Katie brought her from the barn to walk her around again, she was clearly still a little tense. But this was way better than earlier, Mikaela, Katie’s student, confided. It was helpful that it was now nearing the lunch break, and the other horses around were very workmanlike in their demeanor, and also that Sauci had some time to unwind.

Still, Katie was going to need every minute of the hour or so she had until the in-hand portion of the Trainer’s Challenge began. I left them to continue their walkabout, after getting a promise of a group picture with the Hodges after the competition, which was to start in an hour or two.

There was just time to get a quick picture of Onyx and Emily with their blue ribbon.

Even though Emily had withdrawn from the Training Level test and the flat classes as well as the jumping, that one test they rode earned them a blue ribbon! Happily, Onyx seemed to be feeling better, though they were still going to head home early. So although the day may not have been everything Emily hoped for, things were ending on a positive note.

Before the Trainers Challenge began at 1 p.m., I took a few pictures of other competitors. Here’s Mats Mats Bay, the good looking bay selected by Sarah Dupree &Letty Moreno, both working students of Meika Decher, who participated in last year’s challenge. Although he was doing well in his re-training, they decided that it would be better for his long-term development not present him at the Challenge.

How hard was it to make that decision? I didn’t ask, but I think I can guess.

In his week six training video , Meika Decher says, to develop a horse that is very thoughtful and soft doesn’t happen overnight and sometimes it takes a lot longer than what you are hoping for.”

As disappointing as it probably was to not compete, taking the broader perspective and give the horse the timeframe he needs, not the timeframe you want, is the essence of horsemanship. Mats Mats Bay is still available for sale.

Shelby Ahrens was there with another Matty G son, Curried Matt, who was coming off of two weeks’ rest. Not because he needed it, but because Shelby’s wife was also competing in Oklahoma on the same day and he had just returned from driving them down! But according to Curried Matts’ owner, they were ahead of the curve right from the start — a major transformation in the horse’s attitude had taken less than two weeks. It was clear how relaxed Curried Matt was with receiving people’s attention or when his tack was going on. He had that working horse attitude of conserving his energy.

But there was a lot more pressure coming — Shelby and Matt started off their demonstration with a bang. Not literally a bang, as I understand mounted shooting was nixed as part of the freestyle due to safety concerns, but with a high-speed flag demo, followed by some pole exercises drawn from the repertoire of working equitation, which based on the domo vaquera of Spain.

By the time Shelby got to the roping portion of his demo, the crowd was so far on his side that when he missed his rope toss, he turned it into comic relief.

Paige Wagter was at the other end of the spectrum. As King of the Sky demonstrated his friendly nature to everyone who came to admire him, she told me that she was having a little trouble with the idea of letting him go. But he had a buyer, and that was the point, after all. Still, when she won the under-saddle class, she was overcome with emotion. She’s a professional, though, and by the time she did her freestyle demo, the smile was back on her face. After a couple of jumps, she switched her bridle for a halter, and went over a few jumps that way. It was only at the end where she scared some spectators right off the fence (okay, I was one of them) when King came barreling towards us and used the fence to stop!

The final freestyle performance was from Sauci. She had been a little hard to settle in the flat class, but as I watched them pick up the canter, things looked a lot more harmonious. Maybe it was having the jumps there, instead of other horses to contend with, but Sauci was suddenly all business.

It looked like maybe they were going to jump after all. The first was a little crossrail.

But after going back and forth and raising it to a small vertical, it looked like they were coming down the line to the Oak Crest oxer. No. They circled. And then circled again. Approach is everything with jumping. If you don’t have the horse under you and on the right line, it is better to wait. But finally they were ready and Sauci cleared it nicely. Then up it went another 3 inches.

And then Katie got the jump she was waiting for, the one that said Sauci had put the morning behind her and was in her zone.

Mission accomplished.

King of the Sky and crew

The overall winner of the Challenge was Paige Wagter of and King of the Sky, with Shelby Ahrens and Curried Matt second, and Katie Peery and Hot n’ Sauci third.

At least two of the trainers reported they are ready would do it again, although Shelby said his wife might want to take a crack at it next year instead. He works out of Southside Stables in Shelton and his own website, where you can learn more about the horsemanship program.

Now it was time for photoss, and congratulations. With all three of the participating horses going to new homes, and two of the new owners on hand, there were a lot of people to get into the pictures.

Sauci’s crew

It was only after the classes were all done that Jet Parrett was relieved from her duties of assisting Robert Geller do the show announcing. This year there were no technical glitches, and some of the horses, Sauci included, appeared to recognized his voice. He certainly recognized many of the horses, as the majority of them had done their racing at Emerald Downs. Sophia McKee came over at the end of the day and let him know that the judge and her assistant had donated their services for the day. There were the usual volunteer crew, including Jill Hallin, whose horse, Turbo, was probably the hardest-working horse at the show, taking multiple riders through dressage tests, jumping, and flat classes. His secret tip – “Save your energy for the fun stuff — jumping!”

Also lending her services to the day was Erin Palmer, who is the official track photographer – I’ll add a link when the photos are up. Diane Karl was also there taking photos, many of which are posted on the Prodigious Fund Facebook Page, and Cheri Wicklund, who gave me the storyline for my blog after I mentioned to her that my plan had gone off script. This is pretty normal for plans, and doesn’t usually phase me, but my expectations were raised by Bumpy’s showcase day, a story which wrote itself before my eyes.

So I whined, and in this case it paid off.

“We’ve all got to help each other out,” she said.

Maybe enable is a better word — no twelve-step program for us — we WANT to be addicted.

Jet thought she recognized one of the horses. “Is that Captain Corn?” she asked the man leading a tall, elegant grey around.

It was – he had changed owners and left her old boarding barn. He didn’t show that day – he was just getting some exposure. Jerry said he had decided that was his goal for the day when he saw how excited his horse was in the show environment. Jerry is a jaded professional – ribbons are no longer the goal – better to have a calm, happy horse whose day ends on a positive note.

And now Captain Corn was posing for pictures with Jet! Another mission accomplished.

So Jerry shared his professional advice about showing – ride the horse you have that day and re-set your expectations if necessary, because there will always be another show. And another. And another. And, hopefully, another Thoroughbred Trainer’s Challenge next year. Because Sophia McKee and the Prodigious Fund have created a wonderful and effective showcase event, that is helping to build a crossover community.

If you can’t wait until next, I’d like to point out that there are still some available horses from the Showcase, and even Dakota Demon, Mark Bollender’s horse from last year’s Challenge, who has some good exposure under her belt.

Katie Merwick of Second Chance Ranch was at the show, and told me that she has several rideable horses, including two from the showcase, and also a desperate need for foster homes for some of her charges through the winter. Project horse or companion horse – go to her website and see what’s available – or just pitch in some hay, Katie says.

Emily Wilmot still has Sorry Pal, although a couple of people have come to try him, there hasn’t been that magic “CLICK” yet. However, Emily got a glowing update from half-brother Bumpy’s new family – apparently they draw straws to see who gets to ride him 😉

And when you have those moments when you wonder why you are doing all this, there is a picture to remind you that Saturday, October 4th was a day full of AWESOMENSS!

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate.